Atlanta Hawks give Wichita State’s Tyson Etienne a chance to fulfill NBA dream
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All Tyson Etienne wanted was a chance to make the NBA.
A chance is what the former Wichita State basketball star will have, as Etienne signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Atlanta Hawks as an undrafted free agent shortly following Thursday’s NBA Draft.
That means Etienne will play for the Hawks in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas from July 7-17, and the 6-foot-2 guard will receive an invitation to Atlanta’s training camp with a chance to make an impression.
An Exhibit 10 contract is essentially a free trial (with non-guaranteed money) for NBA teams to audition players they are interested in and maintain their rights by stashing them on their G League affiliate.
If the Hawks waive Etienne following training camp, he could still be designated to the team’s G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, and earn up to a $50,000 bonus if he remains with the club for 60 days.
The best-case scenario for Etienne would be if he impresses the Hawks enough to convince them to convert his Exhibit 10 contract into a two-way deal, which would have to happen before the start of the NBA season. A two-way deal would allow Etienne to play prominently for the Skyhawks in the G League, while also giving the Hawks the ability to promote him to the NBA team whenever they see fit. A two-way contract can also lead to a standard contract with an NBA team.
It’s the exact same route that Jaime Echenique, Etienne’s former teammate at WSU, took with the Washington Wizards last season. Echenique was cut in training camp, put on the team’s G League roster and eventually signed a 10-day contract and made his NBA debut for the Wizards.
The Hawks were one of the 14 NBA teams that Etienne worked out for ahead of the draft. There’s also a Wichita State connection with the Hawks, as Atlanta’s president of basketball operations, Travis Schlenk, earned a masters degree from WSU in 1997.
Etienne’s first NBA Summer League game with the Atlanta Hawks will be Saturday, July 9 at 6:30 p.m. against the Utah Jazz with the game broadcast on NBA TV.
